Theater Listings for Dec. 2-8

Raymond Lee and Jennifer Ikeda in “Vietgone,” a comedy by Qui Nguyen.CreditEmon Hassan for The New York Times

Dec. 1, 2016

A critical guide to productions in New York City, including shows in previews.

Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current productions, additional listings, showtimes and ticket information are at nytimes.com/theater. A searchable, critical guide to theater is at nytimes.com/events.

Previews and Openings

‘ALLIGATOR’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) New Georges and the Sol Project co-produce Hilary Bettis’s toothsome play. Under Elena Araoz’s direction, alligator-wrestling twins tussle their way through the Florida Everglades to the tune of a live rock score. A.R.T./New York Theaters, 502 West 53rd Street, 800-838-8006, newgeorges.org. (Alexis Soloski)

‘THE BABYLON LINE’ (in previews; opens on Monday) The playwright Richard Greenberg (“Eastern Standard,” “Take Me Out”) rides the rails for this new play, set in a Long Island creative-writing class in the late 1960s. Under Terry Kinney’s direction, it stars Josh Radnor and Elisabeth Reaser as a teacher and a student with flat accents and deep desires. Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, 800-432-7250, lincolncenter.org. (Soloski)

‘THE BAND’S VISIT’ (in previews; opens on Thursday) In this new musical, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra has arrived in an Israeli town to give a concert. Trouble is, they’ve come to the wrong town. Itamar Moses and David Yazbek adapt Eran Kolirin’s film, about Arabs and Israelis making unlikely music. David Cromer directs a cast that includes Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk. Atlantic Theater Company, Linda Gross Theater, 336 West 20th Street, Chelsea, 866-811-4111, atlantictheater.org. (Soloski)

‘COLLABORATION: WARHOL & BASQUIAT’ (in previews; opens on Friday) Andy Warhol’s first impression of Jean-Michel Basquiat was not wildly enthusiastic. “He’s just one of those kids who drives me crazy,” Warhol said. But the artists eventually began a multiyear collaboration, as detailed in Calvin Levels’s play. Mr. Levels stars as Basquiat while Ira Denmark plays Warhol. Lonny Price directs. Here, 145 Avenue of the Americas, at Dominick Street, South Village, 866-811-4111, here.org. (Soloski)

‘THE DEAD, 1904’ (in previews; opens on Thursday) Snow will be general all over an Upper East Side townhouse when the Irish Repertory Theater presents Paul Muldoon and Jean Hanff Korelitz’s adaptation of the James Joyce short story at the American Irish Historical Society. Kate Burton stars in this immersive performance about a husband and wife confronting love and mortality at a holiday party. 991 Fifth Avenue, 212-727-2737, irishrep.org. (Soloski)

‘DEAR EVAN HANSEN’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) Get your Twitter and Instagram accounts ready for the Broadway run of this musical about the struggle for connection in a wired world. Written by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, it stars Ben Platt as a socially anxious adolescent staggered by sudden fame. Reviewing the Off Broadway production, Charles Isherwood described the piece, directed by Michael Greif, as fashioned “with great heart and humor.” Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, dearevanhansen.com. (Soloski)

‘ELEMENTS OF OZ’ (in previews; opens on Wednesday) The Builders Association, one of the most innovative companies in its integration of theater and technology, follows the yellow brick road to its new show. Directed by Marianne Weems and written by James Gibbs and Moe Angelos, the piece riffs on “The Wizard of Oz” and deploys audience smartphones to pull back the curtain on an augmented reality. 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street, at Rector Street, 866-811-411, 3ldnyc.org. (Soloski)

‘HIS ROYAL HIPNESS LORD BUCKLEY’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on Dec. 13) A counterculture idol brings his hepcat style to a new generation in Jake Broder’s one-man tribute to a bebop comedian of the 1940s and ’50s. Reviewing the 2005 version of the show, Jason Zinoman wrote, “Mr. Broder does a scrupulous job of mimicking the jazzy rat-a-tat delivery and finger-snapping attitude.” A live jazz trio accompanies him. 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Soloski)

‘THE ILLUSIONISTS: TURN OF THE CENTURY’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) Now you see them and now you see them again. Broadway’s flashy, splashy conjuring ensemble returns for a third season, this one focused on the golden age of magic. The lineup includes a conjurer, a charlatan, a couple of clairvoyants and the Grand Carlini. Palace Theater, 1564 Broadway, 877-250-2929, theillusionistslive.com. (Soloski)

‘IN TRANSIT’ (in previews; opens on Dec. 11) The “Frozen” composer Kristen Anderson-Lopez, in collaboration with James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth, has written this new a cappella musical about 11 riders in search of love, self and a seat. The director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall gets the cast moving. Circle in the Square, 1633 Broadway at 50th Street, telecharge.com. (Soloski)

‘LONGING LASTS LONGER’ (in previews; opens on Sunday) The downtown contrarian and performance artist Penny Arcade inveighs against cupcakes and conformity in this new solo show at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued, she will discuss the disappearance of the New York she knew. Steve Zehentner co-directs. 45 Water Street, Brooklyn, 718-254-8779, stannswarehouse.org. (Soloski)

‘OTHELLO’ (in previews; opens on Dec. 12) The green-eyed monster throws down with a blue-eyed star and a brown-eyed one in this revival of the Shakespeare tragedy. Daniel Craig (“Spectre”) is the Iago to the Othello of David Oyelowo (“Selma”) in Sam Gold’s production, informed by present-day warfare and trauma. New York Theater Workshop, 79 East Fourth Street, East Village, 212-460-5475, nytw.org. (Soloski)

‘RANCHO VIEJO’ (in previews; opens on Tuesday) The playwright Dan LeFranc (“The Big Meal,” “Sixty Miles to Silver Lake”), a writer who wears his formal ambitions casually, seeks out less green pastures in this desert-set drama at Playwrights Horizons. His new play is about a troubled marriage, as experienced by the bride and groom’s parents and their neighbors and friends. Daniel Aukin directs. 416 West 42nd Street, 212-279-4200, playwrightshorizons.org. (Soloski)

‘THE STRANGE UNDOING OF PRUDENCIA HART’ (in previews; opens on Dec. 13) A song catcher attending an academic conference called “The Borders Ballad: Neither Border Nor Ballad” finds herself caught up in a ballad of her own. David Greig’s play, created with the director Wils Wilson, uses a Scottish pub setting and a rhymed verse style, with music composed by Alasdair Macrae. McKittrick Hotel, 542 West 27th Street, 866-811-4111, strangeundoing.com. (Soloski)

‘TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS’ (in previews; opens on Wednesday) The actor Nia Vardalos cultivates the work of Cheryl Strayed, the author of “Wild,” in this new play at the Public Theater. Ms. Vardalos plays a character modeled on Ms. Strayed’s Rumpus advice columnist, Sugar. Under Thomas Kail’s direction, Phillip James Brannon, Alfredo Narciso and Natalie Woolams-Torres will join her. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, East Village, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Soloski)

Broadway

‘CATS’ Andrew Lloyd Webber’s splashy feline parade has returned, in a production once again directed by Trevor Nunn and designed by John Napier. Andy Blankenbuehler (“Hamilton”) has provided some new dances, but mostly this is the same “Cats” you saw (and loved or didn’t) the first time around, albeit with a fresh and mostly terrific cast (2:15). Neil Simon Theater, 250 West 52nd Street, 877-250-2929, catsthemusical.com. (Charles Isherwood)

★ ‘THE COLOR PURPLE’ A makeover made in heaven. The director John Doyle has slimmed down and toned up a show that seemed leaden and garish in its original Broadway incarnation. This musical version of Alice Walker’s celebrated novel about black women finding their voices — which features Jennifer Holliday and, in a star-making performance, Cynthia Erivo — is a triumph of elemental, emotional storytelling (2:35). Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, 242 West 45th Street, colorpurple.com, 212-239-6200. (Ben Brantley)

★ ‘THE ENCOUNTER’ Simon McBurney’s astonishing one-man show — about an American photojournalist lost in the Amazon rain forest — retunes, rearranges and reproportions your senses, while taking you places you never expected to visit. Put on the earphones attached to your seat and brace yourself to travel far. All you have to do is lend Mr. McBurney your ears (1:45). John Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, theencounterbroadway.com. (Brantley)

★ ‘FALSETTOS’ There is scarcely a moment in this revival of William Finn and James Lapine’s moving, funny and remarkably prescient 1992 musical about an unorthodox family that does not approach, or even achieve, perfection. Mr. Lapine once again directs — as if with a fresh pair of eyes — and the cast, led by Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells and Stephanie J. Block (all better than ever) is absolutely impeccable. Run, don’t walk; a must-see … insert your own hyperbolic cliché here (2:25). Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street, 800-982-2787, lct.org. (Isherwood)

★ ‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’ This timely new production of the much-loved and much-revived 1964 musical comedy honors the show’s ebullience of spirit, as embodied in the Jewish milkman Tevye (an assured and affecting Danny Burstein), living in a Russian shtetl in the early 20th century. But as directed by Bartlett Sher with his customary sensitivity (“The King and I,” “South Pacific”), this multihued staging moves to a heart-stopping conclusion. It’s just a musical, no? Yes, but what a musical (2:35)! Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street, 212-239-6200, fiddlermusical.com. (Isherwood)

★ ‘HEISENBERG’ A wondrously stealthy play by Simon Stephens that uses the classic madcap-girl-meets-priggish-boy formula to consider the infinite variables of life. Though the play takes its name from a theoretical physicist, it’s good old chemistry — as embodied by Mary-Louise Parker and Denis Arndt — that makes this production so compulsively watchable. Mark Brokaw directs this two-character, expectation-thwarting comedy of unpredictability (1:20). Samuel J. Friedman Theater, 261 West 47th Street, 212-399-3050, manhattantheatreclub.com. (Brantley)

‘HOLIDAY INN’ A bland and rather premature holiday fun-fest, packed with Irving Berlin tunes good (and not so good), inspired by 1942 the movie of the same name remembered for Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas.” Bryce Pinkham and Corbin Bleu lead a game cast (2:15). Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Isherwood)

★ ‘THE HUMANS’ Stephen Karam’s extraordinary comedy-drama — the finest of the season — has transferred to Broadway with its prized virtues intact: a superlative cast; direction from Joe Mantello that deftly navigates its shifts in tone; and, of course, Mr. Karam’s delicate but trenchant writing, depicting with great humor and empathy a middle-class family on the edge of the abyss (1:35). Schoenfeld Theater, 236 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)

★ ‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’ Dave Malloy’s rapturous pop opera, adapted from a sliver of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” has arrived on Broadway with all its signal virtues intact. Denée Benton and the pop star Josh Groban, in the title roles, both make smashing Broadway debuts. Can’t see “Hamilton”? Try this equally innovative, equally accomplished production (2:40). Imperial Theater, 249 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, greatcometbroadway.com. (Isherwood)

★ ‘OH, HELLO ON BROADWAY’ The dirty old men have occupied Broadway. Gil Fazion and George St. Geegland — the cranky, septuagenarian alter egos of the comedians Nick Kroll and John Mulaney — are bringing shabbiness back to sanitized Times Square, where they have set up festering and stupendously entertaining camp. A delicious show about failing big in a city that worships success, directed by Alex Timbers (1:30). Lyceum Theater, 149 West 45th Street, 212-239-6200, ohhellobroadway.com. (Brantley)

‘WAITRESS’ A thrilling performance by Jessie Mueller (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”) brings some much-needed depth of feeling to this slick but superficial musical based on the movie about a pie-baking diner worker in distress. The score, by the pop singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, is also beguiling, but Diane Paulus’s production flattens the ancillary characters into cartoons (2:35). Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, waitressthemusical.com, 877-250-2929. (Isherwood)

Off Broadway

‘CAGNEY’ When the hero of Robert Creighton, Christopher McGovern and Peter Colley’s Hollywood musical shows his stuff as a tap dancer, you may want to buy war bonds. Otherwise, this show has a pleasantly cartoonish revue vibe (2:20). Westside Theater Upstairs, 407 West 43rd Street, 212-239-6200, cagneythemusical.com. (Anita Gates)

‘CAREER SUICIDE’ Chris Gethard, a comic and writer who confesses he’s been depressive since he was a preteen, confronts with a bruising and sometime hilarious frankness his longstanding urge to pull the plug on himself in this dark if often outrageously funny solo show (1:20). Lynn Redgrave Theater, 45 Bleecker Street, 866-811-4111, careersuicideshow.com. (Isherwood)

‘DEAD POETS SOCIETY’ This streamlined stage version of Tom Schulman’s Oscar-winning screenplay from 1989 finds the comic film star Jason Sudeikis in an advanced state of decency, as an inspiring maverick teacher in a New England boys’ school. The ever-resourceful John Doyle directs what has to be one of the most conventional works ever about the importance of defying convention (1:35). Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13th Street, East Village, 212-352-3101, classicstage.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘THE DEATH OF THE LAST BLACK MAN IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD A.K.A. THE NEGRO BOOK OF THE DEAD’ Suzan-Lori Parks’s jazz fugue of a play presents a haunting, sepulchral parade of images that have distorted and swallowed up the history of African-Americans. Lileana Blain-Cruz’s hypnotic staging, featuring a large and accomplished cast, is as vivid and compelling as a fever dream (1:15). Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, 212-244-7529, signaturetheatre.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘DRUNK SHAKESPEARE’ Probably you’ve seen streamlined, amped-up productions of Shakespeare before, but the gimmick here is that as the performance of “Macbeth” begins, one of the actors downs a mind-fogging number of shots. What follows is a wild mash-up of Shakespeare and pop-culture references that seems chaotically improvised but takes a deceptive amount of skill to execute. The audience sits right up against the action and sometimes gets drawn into it (1:30). The Lounge, Roy Arias Stages, 300 West 43rd Street, fourth floor, drunkshakespeare.com. (Neil Genzlinger)

★ ‘FINIAN’S RAINBOW’ Charlotte Moore’s big-hearted, small-scale adaptation of this 1947 musical fantasy acknowledges its strengths (an immortal score) and weaknesses (a perishable satirical book) with parental fondness. The likable and polished ensemble in this companionable production includes Mark Evans as a leprechaun, Ryan Silverman as a guitar-strumming idealist and the captivating Melissa Errico as the colleen they both adore, quite understandably (2:00). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, 212-727-2737, irishrep.org. (Brantley)

‘THE GOLDEN GIRLS SHOW! A PUPPET PARODY’ The title of this homage to the beloved television series pretty much says it all. The four Golden Girls are back, in puppet form, doing what they do: slinging insults. The puppeteers do a decent job of recreating the well-known voices and mannerisms, but the play needed to be a little more over-the-top to distinguish itself from the actual series, which is still readily available. It’s hard to mine nostalgia from something that never went away (1:30). DR2 Theater, 103 East 15th Street, 800-982-2787, ticketmaster.com. (Genzlinger)

★ ‘HOMOS, OR EVERYONE IN AMERICA’ A couple comes together, breaks apart and just about everything in between in Jordan Seavey’s daringly frank, funny and affecting play, starring the equally terrific Michael Urie and Robin De Jesús. Despite the appendage in the title, the play is fundamentally about urban gay life in America, its complexities, its pleasures and, sadly, its dangers (1:45). Bank Street Theater, 155 Bank Street, West Village, 212-513-1080, labtheater.org. (Isherwood)

‘ILUMINATE’ More spectacle than story, “iLuminate” offers technology as its most dazzling star. Conceived, produced and directed by Miral Kotb, a former software engineer, the show employs about a dozen talented, indefatigable young actor-dancers, encased in black suits wired with digitally controlled lights. Performing in total darkness to a score combining hip-hop, jazz and classical influences, they portray the tale of an artist whose magic paintbrush is stolen for evil ends. Much of the action is like a neon comic book, but it does have its magic moments (0:85). New World Stages, 340 West 59th Street, 212-239-6200, iluminate.com. (Graeber)

★ ‘LOVE, LOVE, LOVE’ Playing a pair of soul mates in selfishness in Mike Bartlett’s scathing portrait of the baby boomer generation, Amy Ryan and Richard Armitage advance from the ages of 19 to 64 with a galloping satirical wit that pulls you along, happy and appalled, through the decades. Impeccably directed by Michael Mayer, and featuring a nigh-perfect ensemble of five (2:05). Laura Pels Theater, 111 West 46th Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Brantley)

‘THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES’ When the scheduled singers at a 1958 senior prom cancel, the title characters of this jukebox musical step in. The quartet sings hits of the era — all from a female perspective — and in the second act they return at their 10-year reunion, weathered and wiser (2:00). Kirk Theater, Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Andy Webster)

‘NOT THAT JEWISH’ Monica Piper is a genial guide to her own life in this one-woman show, in which she touches humorously on her career as a stand-up comic, her failed marriage, her time as a writer and producer of the children’s show “Rugrats” and — most effectively — her decision to adopt a child as a single woman. Her casual relationship with Judaism is the framework, though you don’t need to be Jewish to enjoy the show. She’s too deliberately tear-jerky at times, but the piece has some very funny moments as well (1:25). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, notthatjewish.com. (Genzlinger)

★ ‘NOTES FROM THE FIELD’ Anna Deavere Smith’s wonderfully energizing new performance piece maps the cursed intersection of two American institutions, the school and the prison, in a racially divided nation. Assuming the identities of 19 individuals (most of whom she interviewed personally), Ms. Smith turns monologues into a vital, far-reaching dialogue among politicians and protesters, prisoners and schoolteachers (2:15). Second Stage Theater, 305 West 43rd Street, 212-246-4422, 2st.com. (Brantley)

‘ONE FUNNY MOTHER’ In this solo show, Dena Blizzard jokes about her children and her husband, but she never really makes her household anything other than generic. There are plenty of laughs but no overarching theme or point. It’s a show aimed at parents, especially young mothers, who want to foster the idea that raising children is an impossibly demanding task (1:30). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, 212-239-6200, onefunnymother.com. (Genzlinger)

★ ‘OTHELLO: THE REMIX’ Incongruous as it may seem, giggles abound in this clever and exuberantly performed hip-hop musical version of Shakespeare’s tragedy about a Moorish general troubled by the green-eyed monster. The Q Brothers, known for a similar madcap mash-up, “The Bomb-itty of Errors,” once again mix pulsing beats and clever rhymes into the celebrated tale. You won’t weep, but you may leave with a smile on your face or a spring in your step (1:20). Westside Theater, 407 West 43rd Street, 212-239-6200, othellotheremix.com. (Isherwood)

‘PARTY PEOPLE’ This semi-documentary work, created by the spoken-word collective Universes, explores two 1960s radical groups, the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords Party. The storytelling is perhaps unfocused, and the structure muddled. But its investigation of civil disobedience and organized resistance feels heartbreakingly timely and intensely necessary (2:00). Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Soloski)

‘THE PIGEON IN THE TAJ MAHAL’ A sweater-wearing, Elvis-quoting naïf (the sublime John Keating) and a sozzled bride-to-be spend a night in a rural Irish trailer park in Laoisa Sexton’s play. Ms. Sexton, who plays the bride, has written fine roles for actors, but the play itself spins its mobile-home wheels (1:30). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, 212-727-2737, irishrep.org. (Soloski)

★ ‘POISON’ This austere two-hander by the Dutch playwright Lot Vekemans begins coolly but becomes, ever so slowly, a tear-jerker as a man and a woman whose marriage did not survive the loss of their child come face to face for the first time in years. Each still bears a heavy weight of grief. Produced by Origin Theater Company (1:30). Beckett Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, 212-239-6200, telecharge.com. (Laura Collins-Hughes)

‘PUFFS, OR: SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A CERTAIN SCHOOL OF MAGIC AND MAGIC’ Aimed at grown-up Potterphiliacs, Matt Cox’s teasingly affectionate, fast-paced parody of the Hogwarts universe embraces, with varying success, the nerds whom the sorting hat assigns to the house called Puff. The fine ensemble includes the sublimely hilarious Madeleine Bundy as Harry (1:20). Elektra Theater, 300 West 43rd Street, puffstheplay.com. (Collins-Hughes)

★ ‘RIDE THE CYCLONE’ A musical comedy about six teenage choir members who meet their ends when a roller coaster goes off the rails does not sound like a recipe for heavenly delight. But this inventive show, by Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond, is spectacularly good fun from start to finish, its snarky-dry wit as appealing as its varied score. And the cast is fresh, funny, altogether impeccable (1:30). Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street, West Village, 212-924-2817, mcctheater.org. (Isherwood)

★ ‘SPAMILTON’ Contrary to what its rabid fans might believe, the juggernaut hit “Hamilton” is not the only musical that ever mattered. The smart and silly “Spamilton,” created by the master satirist Gerard Alessandrini and featuring a motor-mouthed core cast of five, is here to happily dispel that myth, placing “Hamilton” in a context that might be described, in many ways, as broad (1:10). Triad Theater, 158 West 72nd Street, triadnyc.com (Brantley)

★ ‘SWEAT’ Lynn Nottage’s all-too-timely play, mostly set in a bar in a declining Rust Belt town, explores with great compassion, and some humor, too, the impact that the collapse of manufacturing in America has had on the people who have relied on such work for generations. Kate Whoriskey’s production is superbly acted and supremely, if sadly, moving (2:15). Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Isherwood)

‘SWEET CHARITY’ Sutton Foster gives an archetype-shattering performance in the title role of this willfully wan, small-scale revival of the 1966 musical about a hapless dance hall hostess. Most of the rest of Leigh Silverman’s intelligently rethought production isn’t up to the level of its Charity. But Ms. Foster’s brave, compelling and deeply affecting star turn is a wonder (2:20). Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, 212-279-4200, thenewgroup.org. (Brantley)

‘A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME’ This diverting musical about four women in a weekly cooking club who navigate the dowdy 1950s and the liberated 1960s is thin in the story department, but the songs are zippy, and the voices blend beautifully. Be sure to check out the 1950s recipes on the lobby wall at intermission (2:00). York Theater Company at Saint Peter’s, 619 Lexington Avenue, 212-935-5824, yorktheatre.org. (Genzlinger)

‘TERMS OF ENDEARMENT’ Say it ain’t so. Molly Ringwald, who shot to fame in the 1980s as the beloved teenage star of John Hughes movies, plays the Shirley MacLaine role in this pallid adaptation, by Dan Gordon, of the tear-jerking movie and the Larry McMurtry novel it was based on (2:00). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Isherwood)

‘THIS DAY FORWARD’ Nicky Silver is driving with the brakes on in his bumpy and tentative portrait of a misbegotten marriage, which suggests an unlikely hybrid of Neil Simon and William Inge. Evidence of the original, mordant wit and transgressive sensibility of the author of “The Lyons” is less in evidence. Mark Brokaw smoothly directs a polished, if listless, cast (2:00). Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th Street, 212-353-0303, vineyardtheatre.org. (Brantley)

★ ‘WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT’ In each Monday performance of “White Rabbit, Red Rabbit,” a new actor will confront the challenge of this engaging, enigmatic solo play (with the audience in a supporting role) by the Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour. The performer sees the script only when he or she steps onstage. A schedule of performers is available on the website (1:15). Westside Theater, 407 West 43rd Street, 212-239-6200, whiterabbitredrabbit.com. (Isherwood)

★ ‘THE WOLVES’ The scary, exhilarating brightness of raw adolescence emanates from every scene of Sarah DeLappe’s incandescent portrait of an indoor soccer team. With the director Lila Neugebauer marshaling teen spirit into balletic unity (and thickly layered dialogue into improbable clarity), this pulsating production brings to mind a nine-headed hydra, rushing at you on a stream of exploding hormones (1:30). The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, 646-223-3010, playwrightsrealm.org. (Brantley)

Off Off Broadway

★ ‘THE GRAND PARADISE’ The immersive theater troupe Third Rail (“Then She Fell”) has created a lush, 1970s-style tropical resort for virtual hedonists. An experience that allows you to have and remember a wild vacation simultaneously, with both romantic promise and retrospective regret. Be prepared to be touched a lot, and to hear New Age gobbledygook about love and death (2:00). 383 Troutman Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn, 718-374-5196, thegrandparadise.com. (Brantley)

‘PARADISO: CHAPTER 1’ The theatrical showman Michael Counts turns his skills to the escape-room fad in this mix of performance and puzzle solving. Small groups of audience members make their way through the headquarters of a sinister corporation by solving assorted brainteasers, encountering actors along the way who interact with them and fill in the outlines of a thin narrative. It’s all done against a fairly tight clock, since the next batch of theatergoers is right behind you, so if you go, be prepared to think fast (1:00). The Koreatown location is revealed when tickets are booked. paradisoescape.com. (Genzlinger)

Extravaganzas

★ ‘CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR STARRING THE RADIO CITY ROCKETTES’ Santa Claus takes a back seat to the Rockettes in a seasonal show that, more than ever, emphasizes the dancing. And what dancing: The sheer scale of it all is deliciously overwhelming, and Broadway fans who miss the Babylonian excess of old musicals will be transported (1:30). Radio City Music Hall, 866-858-0007, rockettes.com/christmas. (Elisabeth Vincentelli)

Long-Running Shows

‘ALADDIN’ The Disney movie refashioned for the stage, with shtick, sparkles and silliness cutting the syrup (2:20). New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, 866-870-2717, aladdinthemusical.com.

‘SEX TIPS FOR STRAIGHT WOMEN FROM A GAY MAN’ Part bachelorette party at Chippendales, part embarrassing midnight show in Pigalle (1:20). 777 Theater, 777 Eighth Avenue, at 47th Street, 888-841-4111, sextipsplay.com.

‘SHEAR MADNESS’ The audience solves the crime in this durable hair-salon whodunit, which skates merrily along even as some of its jokes show their age (2:00). Davenport Theater, 354 West 45th Street, Clinton, 212-239-6200, shearmadness.com.

Last Chance

★ ‘ABIGAIL’S PARTY’ (closes on Saturday) Equal parts acidic and uproarious, this 1977 play by Mike Leigh looks in on the cocktail party from hell, in which five people navigate the evening under immense quantities of booze (2:00). Barrow Group Theater, 312 West 36th Street, 866-811-4111, barrowgroup.org. (Jaworowski)

‘THE CHERRY ORCHARD’ (closes on Sunday) Though it stars that fine actress Diane Lane, is staged by the rising British director Simon Godwin and features a new adaptation by the seriously gifted young dramatist Stephen Karam (“The Humans”), this frenzied, flashy take on one family’s mortgage crisis has to be one of the most clueless interpretations of Chekhov ever presented (2:15). American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42nd Street, 212-719-1300, roundabouttheatre.org. (Brantley)

‘DON’T YOU ____ SAY A WORD’ (closes on Sunday) An obscenity-spiked command, uttered at a pivotal moment of a tennis match between two obsessive rivals, implodes their relationship in Andy Bragen’s comedy, tautly directed by Lee Sunday Evans. The cast is excellent, but Mr. Bragen doesn’t go deep enough to convince us that the tennis court is where the true self is revealed, or make us invest in the question (1:25). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, 212-279-4200, 59e59.org. (Collins-Hughes)

★ ‘THE GABRIELS: ELECTION YEAR IN THE LIFE OF ONE FAMILY: WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE’ (closes on Sunday) Richard Nelson’s exquisitely observed series of domestic dramas is a profound achievement in topical theater. Here, we spend time with an extended family at home on election night 2016, and the anxious hopefulness of its members (embodied by a pitch-perfect ensemble) may well break your heart (1:45). Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, 212-967-7555, publictheater.org. (Brantley)

‘A LIFE’ (closes on Sunday) Adam Bock’s latest play stars David Hyde Pierce as a lonely gay man in New York who meets an unhappy fate. Theoretically a meditation on existential angst and life’s disappointments, it’s mostly just a crashing bore (1:25). Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd Street, 212-279-4200, playwrightshorizons.org. (Isherwood)

‘SELL/BUY/DATE’ (closes on Saturday) The latest show from the gifted writer and performer Sarah Jones peers into the future to explore how a sociology professor, lecturing at some undetermined time ahead, examines the lives of sex workers in the first decades of the 21st century. Drawing on interviews with people in the, er, business, Mr. Jones also discusses how women of our era are conditioned to conceive of themselves — or are conceived of by others — as sexual beings (1:25). City Center, the Studio at Stage II, 131 West 55th Street, 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org. (Isherwood)

‘THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS’ (closes on Sunday) This Carlo Goldoni comedy from 1746 is presented by the director, Christopher Bayes, in traditional commedia dell’arte style, but with ample — far too ample — contemporary gags stuffed into every nook and cranny. The result: an arch production that doesn’t seem to trust the material without much goosing (2:15). Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place, between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 866-811-4111, tfana.org. (Isherwood)

★ ‘VIETGONE’ (closes on Sunday) A raucous, audacious comedy by Qui Nguyen, directed by May Adrales and featuring an excellent cast, that strafes just about every subject it tackles and every character it presents. The play, based on the story of Mr. Nguyen’s parents — refugees from South Vietnam who came to America in 1975 — inverts stereotypes with freewheeling abandon (2:20). City Center Stage I, 131 West 55th Street, 212-581-1212, nycitycenter.org. (Isherwood)